Pakistani authorities have banned a popular civil rights movement that campaigns for the country's ethnic Pashtun minority. The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) has been engaged in “certain activities” that are harmful to public order and security in the country, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on October 6 without providing details. The PTM had in recent days reported a series of police raids and arrests targeting its leaders and members ahead of a “curial jirga” or people's assembly on October 11 in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. The PTM has campaigned since 2018 for the civil rights of the country’s estimated 35 million ethnic Pashtuns. Many of Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtuns live in areas close to the border with Afghanistan, where the military has conducted campaigns it says defeated the Pakistani Taliban. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, click here.
Pakistan Bans Pashtun Civil Rights Movement As Threat To Security
PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen addresses a public gathering in South Waziristan (file photo)